Cleaning Duty
by Plantress
Summary: Irene is a simple cleaning lady, someone in who does an unglamorous job that few bother to think about. Even working for Hades, Lord of the Dead in the underworld doesn't change that, yet those that she meets makes everything worthwhile.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I was inspired to create an OC one day after looking at several pictures online. I did not want her to be 'special' in anyway. She was not to be a Specter, a Saint or connected to any gods at all. She was going to be normal, a bit lucky, and a bit resourceful. That was nice...but what good reason would a normal person have for being in the underworld and interacting with the Specters? Then I realizsed that home Hades had in the underworld would have need to be cleaned the same way anyother home would have to be. That was when the idea for Irene was born.

Irene ran her mop over the stone floor of the hallway. The dim lighting in Hades Castle had made it hard for her to see at first, but over the months she had been here, her eyes had adjusted. Cleaning the castle of the God of the Underworld wasn't glamorous or easy work but it was better than the alternative. That was why she had to make sure to be thorough. She couldn't afford anyone thinking she might not be up to the job.

She was the newest member of the cleaning staff, picked up when the guy who had been her before her had done something stupid that had caused him to be kicked out of the castle. What exactly he had done she didn't know. No one wanted to mention it, but she couldn't help but fell sort of absurdly grateful towards him. With him gone, they had needed someone else and she, newly dead, still dazed, had not yet been judged. They had offered her a choice, work in the castle or be sent to whatever hell waited for her. She had jumped at the chance to work in the castle.

No one had told her where she would have gone if she hadn't taken the offer. No one else in the cleaning staff knew what their particular afterlives would have been like either, and truthfully none of them wanted to know. They just concentrated on doing their jobs so that they wouldn't have to find out that information first hand. At least they had some sort of lives here, although they had been warned that if they did try to escape and make it back to earth their bodies would crumble into dust. Some of the other members of the staff liked to joke about that.

"We're pseudo-vampires…" Irene muttered under her breath as she stepped back and looked over the hall once more. Everything appeared to be clean. She only had to do the last two rooms leading off of this particular hallway and she could be done with it. The mop went back into the bucket with a small splash and she pushed it toward one of the rooms. As she opened the door and pushed the bucket inside, she started to wonder if she could figure out a way to get something more modern to work with.

"Hmm?" The voice, not even speaking, caused her to look up startled. This was just a spare room that she thought was suppose to be a sitting room or something and no one ever used it. But there was someone here today, lounging in the chair. Someone with long white hair that she recognized. Her hands tightened around the mop handle.

"L..lord Minos! I'm sorry, I didn't know you where here, I'll come back later!" She stammered out and started to back out of the room as fast as she could. The white haired Judge terrified her, especially when he looked as bored as he did now. Everyone on the cleaning staff was scared when he was like that. They all tried to avoid him as much as possible.

Suddenly she found herself unable to move. She tried to take a step back but there was a tug and her foot refused to move.

"There's no need to leave so fast," Lord Minos drawled. "I almost think you don't like my company." One hand was extended toward her. He gave it a slight twitch and she found her grip on the loosening, even as she tried to force her hand to close again. The hand drew away and she found herself walking toward the Judge.

"Please Lord Minos I have work to do! You shouldn't' be wasting your time on someone like me!" Irene pleaded, not wanting to have to put up with this again.

"I'm sure your work can wait. You have all the time in the world to completed it after all. Just be a good servant and entertain me for a few minuets." He stopped her once she reached the center of the room he stopped her. Slowly her arms rose over her head, moving far more gracefully than she would have done on her own even though her muscles were tense and she was trying to stop them. Minos smiled…and made her dance.

The details of her life before she had died and her death itself where hazy to her. She didn't remember much, but it was clear that whatever she had been in life, it hadn't been a dancer. As her leg stretched far past what she would have been able to do normally, she gave a small yelp of pain. Lady Pandora's orders prevented Minos from giving the staff any lasting injuries but that didn't mean take the chance to be cruel to them when he was bored.

She spun and dipped, felling humiliated and helpless. And this hurt. She wasn't anywhere near flexible to do any of the moves that he was making her body perform. She went up on one toe and posed, a small pained whimper escaped her.

"Minos, what are you doing?" She thought she recognized the voice that spoke from behind her but she couldn't even move her head to check. Minos gazed past her, looking annoyed.

"What does it look like? Teaching someone not to interrupt me," the Gryphon Specter snapped.

"Lady Pandora has told you to stop doing this," Lord Wyvern Rhadamanthys said as he crossed the room. He paused at the edge of her vision. Her body had started to ache, and she had the unpleasant sensation that she should be wobbling but the strings Minos was using wouldn't let her move even a tiny amount.

"She said I wasn't allowed to damage the staff, she didn't say anything about playing with them." A small tug from Minos and she turned in circle, like the figure on a music box.

"Minos, stop this. The staff have work to do and I'm tired of you scaring them to badly to it properly," Rhadamanthys snapped striding forward. "You are a Judge, Minos. You need to show some respect for your position and stop playing these pathetic games!"

"Pathetic Rhadamanthys?" Something, a tension, seemed to fill the room and Irene felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She felt her heart speed up, and she didn't dare make a sound for fear one of them would remember she was actually there. Suddenly Minos made a gesture and she collapsed into a heap on the floor. For several seconds she lay there, too shocked by the sudden release to move. Minos had stalked forward to meet Lord Rhadamanthys. "I'm not the one content to roll over like a faithful dog each time Lady Pandora looks at me."

"We owe her our loyalty," Lord Rhadamanthys hissed. "She is the one who speaks for our Lord!" He looked over and suddenly seemed to see her. Irene swallowed and lurched to her feet.

"L..lord Rhadamanthys…" she started to say.

"Get back to your duties." Was all the Wyvern Specter said as he looked away. She gave a nod and started toward the door. From behind her she heard Lord Rhadamanthys growl, "leave it Minos!"

She practically ran down the hall, only stopping when she was a good ways away from the room. Her muscles hurt and she was sore, but at least she was free.

"Thank you Lord Rhadamanthys," she said aloud.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's the second part of the story. Thanks to DaHaloChick for reading the first part of this chapter over for me and to SuzukaShin for pointing out a couple of errors I made.

Rhadamanthys strode through the hallways, annoyed at his fellow Judge. He did not see why Minos saw fit to go against Lady Pandora's direct orders just to fulfill his idea of amusement. This was not the first time he had caught Minos at play and he still found is fellow Judge's love of pain and torment distasteful. They were Judges. Lord Hades had seen fit to grant them these posts, the least they could do was try to live up to the expectations the title of Judge incurred. Yet incidents from before this had prompted Lady Pandora to create the rule that stated they weren't allowed to cause lasting harm the servants. Scared servants did not work well after all.

A servant being disrespectful would have to be dealt with, but Minos had never given any indication that was why he had been 'playing'. To interrupt a servant who had just been busying doing their job should be beneath someone of Minos's rank.

Rhadamanthys finally stopped and knocked respectfully on the door he had come too. There was silence before a voice spoke.

"Who is there?" Lady Pandora's soft voice came from the other side of the door.

"It is Wyvern Rhadamanthys, Lady Pandora," he answered. There was a pause.

"Come in," she said at last. He entered the room, then quickly kneeled in front of her chair. "Why are you here?"

"I have come to give my report, my Lady," Rhadamanthys said, then gave her a quick summary of the conditions of the Specters that were here. She nodded when he was finished, but she did not say anything else and did not dismiss him. At last she spoke again.

"Something is bothering you Rhadamanthys?"

"It is nothing to concern yourself with," he said. Minos was something he would deal with on his own. He did not want Pandora to think that he had control over his fellow Judges and the other Specters.

"Are you sure? War is approaching, we need you to lead. We cannot afford to have you at anything less than your best."

"I am sure my Lady. This is nothing I cannot deal with on my own."

"I see," she said after a pause. "You may go." Rhadamanthys stood gave her a slight bow, then headed toward the door.

"Rhadamanthys?" Pandora called as he place his hand on the doorknob.

"Yes my Lady?"

"I trust you will be at Orphee's concert tonight?"

"You have asked us to attend tonight, of course I shall be," Rhadamanthys answered as he left.

It was a little over a week and she still hadn't gotten up the courage to actually thank Lord Rhadamanthys in person. True, the Judges didn't come to this part of the castle often, but the one time she had seen him she hadn't been able to approach him. She had wanted to but even the simple phrase of 'thank you' had died in her mouth when she realized he was there. What if she stammered and he thought she was an fool? It had been so long since it had happened what if he had forgotten? What if he…

"Oh just thank him already!" Adam, another member of the staff and someone she shared the cleaning of the larger rooms with, growled. "Why is that so hard?"

"But what if he…"

"Stop with the 'buts' already!" Adam snapped at her, then sighed and leaned on his broom. "Look, this is upsetting you and distracting you. Just thank Lord Rhadamanthys already. What is the big deal about it?"

"He's a Judge, Adam!" Irene looked at him in shock. "It's not like I can just go up to him and just start talking!"

"Yes, you can," Adam interrupted, "you just have to go up and tell him you want to thank him for helping you. It's Lord Rhadamanthys, it's not like he's going to bite your head off. At most he'll just ignore you."

"But what if he does ignore me?" The thought of him not noticing her at all frightened her somehow. "Or, what if he thinks I'm just an annoyance or something?" She didn't want him to remember her like that. Bad enough that the first time he had seen her was when she was acting like an idiot because of Lord Minos. That wasn't like her, she didn't want to Lord Rhadamanthys to think she was useless!

"Like I said, it's Lord Rhadamanthys. He probably won't notice you long enough to be annoyed. Unless you do something stupid and disrespectful he'll just shrug and move on," Adam looked over and frowned at her shocked expression. "What?" Irene opened her mouth to explain but then ended up shaking her head instead. How could she explain that the thought of Lord Rhadamanthys forgetting about her or ingore her was more upsetting than him thinking she was annoying? It hurt when she thought about it. Even if he didn't want anything to do with her anymore, at least him being annoyed with her would mean he remembered.

"It's hard to explain." She finally settled for saying. If she said anything else he would just tease her for it. She wasn't even sure why she felt this way. Adam was right, Rhadamanthys was a Judge. She barely ever saw anyone that high ranked at all. She would just have to get over it, even though that would be hard.

"Just please thank him the next time you see him. You've been worrying and complaining about it to everyone all week. It's getting kind of annoying." Adam said as he finished sweeping.

"And if you were the one who was trying to thank him you would just be able to do it just like that?" She snapped her fingers to help get her point across.

"Yep."

"Liar." Irene glared at Adam, who just grinned and went back to sweeping. Irene went back to work too, swearing that she would thank Lord Rhadamanthys at the next opportunity. If she waited any longer he might really forget and she couldn't let that happen.

It was the next week when she finally did get her chance. She was working on one of the hallways when she caught sight of Lord Rhadamanthys walking toward her. Her body froze and she felt her heart jump at the sight of him. He was already past her before she could force herself to move and she was forced to hurry forward a few steps.

"L..lord Rhadamanthys!" She called, feeling stupid when she realized out anxious and high pitched her voice sounded. The Judge stopped and actually glanced back at her. When she realized that he was looking at her, all her careful planned words left her mouth. "Ummm…"  
He gave her a penetrating look, then started to walk again. The sight of him leaving snapped her out of her daze and she hurried forward a gain, flushing at how much of an idiot she must have looked.  
"Uhmm…I wanted to thank you Lord Rhadamanthys!"

He did stop and look back again but this time his face was blank, almost confused. "…Very well," he said and started forward again. It was as if he didn't remember. That couldn't be. He had to know who she was!

"For saving me from Lord Minos. That's what I'm thanking you for." Maybe he just needed a reminder…

"If you've been caught by him before then you know how dangerous he can be," Lord Rhadamanthys said as he looked away from her. "Ignore his disruptions and if he does manage to catch you again….don't try to resist him. If you do he will try to break you." With that final, chilling, proclamation Lord Rhadamanthys walked away. Irene stood there for a while, feeling a bit hurt and wondering if her thanks had been accept or appreciated at all.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you two all my reviewers, and here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to SuzukaShin for catching some errors I made.

Irene's encounter with Lord Rhadamanthys had unsettled her. She felt happy that he had paid attention to her and had actually taken the time to warn her, but she still wasn't sure he had even really noticed who she was. Had he already forgotten what had happened?

She was so busy that she didn't notice the noise in the servants wing until she nearly walked into the rather large ground gathered around the assignments board in the hallway.

"What now?" She wondered to herself, annoyed. Then someone grabbed her shoulder and she looked over to find one of her roommates, Emily, pointing at a the notice board excitedly.

"Come on Irene, they just got up!" Still slightly confused Irene allowed the shorter girl to drag her forward. It wasn't until she saw the tall, graceful form of the Mita, the handmaiden who served Lady Pandora and the one in charge of all the servants, gliding away that she realized what must be going on.

"It's time for Lord Orphee's visit already?" She exclaimed in shock. It didn't seem like it had almost been a week since his last visit. She had been so preoccupied with Lord Rhadamanthys that she hadn't even noticed how many days had went by. Thankfully Emily had just nodded excited and pulled her up to the board.

"Yes! Come on, they just posted assignments!" Normally, very few of them needed to check the board. Once you had been assigned and area, that was generally where you stayed. But on the days when Orphee visited, things were different. Servants weren't allowed anywhere near the hallway where his concerts were held but there were certain areas of the castle where you could hear the echo of his music. According to some of the elder servants, even those echoes had been enough to draw everyone to those few places.

Even those who didn't have any reason to be in those areas of the castle had used to gather there, pretend like they had work to do. Apparently it had gotten so bad that the rest of the castle wasn't getting cleaned on those days. So, Mita had created the special schedule It set up a rotation that ensured everyone would eventually get a chance to hear Lord Orphee's music. In the bleak underworld, that was something everyone looked forward too.

"Well, did we get lucky today?" Emily demanded when they were close enough. She was so short and slightly built that Irene was often surprised her friend could survive here. But she seemed to do all right…except when it came seeing above other's heads. Irene scanned the upper portion of the list, then sighed with disappointed when neither her nor Emily's name showed up.

"Sorry, not this time," she said out loud. Emily echoed her sigh. "Did we get an assignment together then? Or did we get split up again?" Irene stood on her tiptoes to check.

"Together again this time. We've got one of the larger rooms and that's it."

"Well , at least we might get done early then," Emily sighed. "Although I'm not sure what we'll do then." There wasn't much amusement to be had after your job was finished really. All the servants weren't kept here for their own amusement. They had to find ways to entertain themselves. You had those who read and wrote, a couple like her who scrounged around for enough to make things and then other who gambled or came up with more…physical ways to pass the time. Whatever you did, if you didn't find away to pass the time you were likely to go mad. It had happened to others before.

"You always find something to do at least," Irene responded and started to walk toward the supply close to gather what they would need.

"Do you want to see if anyone is willing to trade posts?" Emily said looking back at the groups still gathered around the assignment sheet. "There's bound to be someone who's willing too."

"No thank. I don't' want to get stuck pulling double duty all week just to get a chance to listen to music." Some of the staff did that, trading their own good posts to someone else in exchange for having them take over their duties for the rest of the week. She didn't see why anyone would willingly take on so much work or give up the work they were expected to do. If she had nothing to do for a week she would go insane from boredom.

"Irene?" Emily asked, dragging her back to reality. She picked up her supplies and headed out with some of the others to get her work done.

At first glance the grand room they had been assigned didn't seem that bad, but once Emily swept behind a cabinet and stirred up a small cloud of dust Irene realized it as far worse than it looked.

"Who had this place last?" Irene called as she cleaned a pair of candle sticks. They hadn't been done in a while and it looked as if they had just been dusted around.

"…..Helen I think," Emily answered as she swept. "At least that's what I heard someone say when they saw the place we were assigned to. I was hoping they were wrong."

"Apparently they were right," Irene grumbled and started to polish the small table the candle sticks had been sitting on. "Why is she still here anyway? You'd think someone would have noticed that she never really does any work by now. I thought Lord Hades wouldn't tolerate laziness."

"She's one of the harem. You know they aren't here because of their cleaning skills," Emily snorted. Irene nodded in agreement.

"Not all of there are this bad though," she had to add. The harem was how the rest of them referred to those servants who traded…favors with the Specters regularly. With one hundred eight Specters with females among their numbers, no one who wanted one lacked partners. As long as the servants did their work and there were no problems caused, no one really cared about what they did. Although a Specter could conceivably order any of the staff in the castle to his bed, but there only a half dozen or so who were willing to take advantage of that fact. In a way, Irene was glad for the harem. They kept the more persistent of the Specters away from those who didn't wish to trade 'favors' with them.

Of course, as Emily had noted, some of them figured out they weren't kept here for their skills with a broom and became lax in their duties. Helen was only the most obvious of them.

"Bad as this is, at least it isn't the courtroom," Emily noted. Irene shuddered at the thought of that.

"Nothing is as bad as that," she said. It wasn't as if the courtroom was really that bad….just big. But the courthouse was under the rein of Lord Minos. No one liked to go there. There was as rotation so that everyone was only stuck with working the courtroom for one week every few months. It wouldn't have been fair to force anyone to work there longer than that . "It always feels as if Lord Minos is watching you when you're down there."

"Lord Rune is nearly as bad," Emily added. "He always insists that everything be perfect and explodes if you make the least little noise! I heard he once ripped someone apart because they were being too noisy!"

"At least he can't control you the way Lord Minos can!" Irene tried not to remember her personal experience with the Judge. "I wish he wasn't the one in charge of the courthouse. Any of the other Judges would have been better! I wish one of them were in the courthouse."

"Who Lord Rhadamnthys?" Emily asked slyly. Irene flushed as her friend continued on, "not that that would be a bad thing. Lord Rhadamanthys is pretty decent. As long as you're doing work he ignores you." It was hard for Irene to ignore her words. They called up far to many images of the recent encounter with Lord Rhadamanthys and how much that had hurt. She tried to focus on what else Emily was saying in order to forget the memories of that encounter. "Of course Lord Aiacos isn't suppose to be that bad either. According to what Nicole said, he's actually a bit nice sometimes."

"I've seen Lord Aiacos once or twice. He seemed all right," Irene said as she finished her corner of the room. "He was much better than say…Lord Raimi," she made a face. She had only seen him once at a distance but she had no desire to get closer than that.

"Bleh, Lord Aiacos is much better than him! He's much better than Lord Zelos too!" Emily shuddered. "Those two are kind of…" She paused searching for words.

"Creepy?" Irene supplied, "Weird? Ugly?" Emily nodded at those.

"All those and obnoxious too. Or at least that's what some of the kitchen staff say. They're the ones who really have to deal with the all the Specters the most." The shorter woman said, looking thoughtful. "You know I wouldn't want to be on the kitchen staff. Can you imagine dealing with some of the Specters on a daily bases?"

"Nicole says most of them are perfectly fine. It's just the ones like Lord Minos or Lord Pharaoh who like to mess with us that cause problems," Irene said, naming one of the cooks. "It's not like they deal with them all the time."

"Still…" Emily frowned at a large mirror hanging behind the table on the opposite side of the room from Irene. "I'll be glad I don't have to deal with someone as arrogant as Lord Pharaoh that often…..does this look crooked to you?"

"…..what?" Irene asked, confused.

"This mirror. Does it look crooked to you?" Emily waved at the offending object. Irene examined it for a few seconds,.

"Maybe a little?" She said at last.

"Thought so." Emily dropped her broom, took a look around to make sure there was no one else in the room, then scrambled up on the table.

"What the heck are you doing?" Irene stared in shock as Emily stood up.

"Adjusting the mirror, what's it look like?"

"You're standing on the table!" Irene hurried over, "What if you fall? Or what if someone sees you up there!?"

"How else am I suppose to reach it? Do you want to go all the way back to see if we can find a ladder? I'll get any footprints off the table when I'm done!"

"But still!" Irene gazed up at her friend. "What if you fall?"

"I'm not that clumsy! Now get back and tell me when it's straight!"

"I never said you were clumsy, but when you go around climbing on random pieces of furniture…" Irene took a step back as she spoke, and her foot came down on the handle of the broom Emily had dropped. It slide out from under her feet, and her shout of surprise as she lost her balance turned into a sharp pained cry as her ankle twisted slight and she went down on top of it.

"Irene!"


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Ack, I thought I put this chapter up already! Ah well...that means a two chapter update this time. Thank you for everyone who likes and reviews this fic. It means a lot to me.

Irene winced as she sifted in her seat and jarred her swollen ankle. The bag of ice she resting on it slipped off her ankle as she and Nicole picked it up, handing it back to her.

"You have to be careful Irene!" her friend scolded as she check on her. " Especially when Lord Minos likes to torture all of us; you're just giving him ammunition that way! Besides, if you injure yourself so badly that you become useless to Lord Hades.." Nicole didn't bother to finish the sentence. Everyone in the kitchens knew what she t meant anyway.

After she had fallen Emily had rushed over and fussed over her, then insisted they go get ice for her ankle. The trip to the kitchen had seemed twice as long as usually, and the moment she had stepped inside, Nicole had spotted her. The red head had forced her to sit and put up her foot, assured her it wasn't broken , and grabbed the ice, scolding all the while.

"It was an accident…" Irene said weakly.

"You still nearly gave me a heart attack when you walked in like that!"

"Sorry," Irene said softly, "I'll try to be careful."

"Good. Just take it easy for now, all right?" Nicole gave her a pat on the head and went back to work.

"You should listen to her." Emily, who had been hovering nearby the whole time, spoke up. "You shouldn't be stressing your ankle so much!"

"But we still haven't finished…" Irene attempted to get up. She had been assigned that room and it was her duty to finish it. There would be consequences if she didn't.

"I can do that. You go back to the room and rest," Emily said to her.

"But I can't just let you do everything alone!" Irene protested. "That room is big and.."

"I can take care of it," Emily interrupted. "You go put your foot up. I don't want to see you mess it any further. If you that and you end up not being able tot work anymore, you know what will happen." Irene swallowed. She was well aware of what would become of her if she became useless to Lord Hades. Even though she knew on some level she was _dead_, the servants saw so little of the actually underworld that most of them tended to forget that fact and see being sentenced as another 'death'. No one here wished to die again, her included.

"…Fine I'll rest. But I owe you for this." She agreed at last.

"Remind me to call in that favor one of these days when I don't feel like getting up," Emily grinned at her. "Now come on, lets get back to the room." Irene nodded and got up carefully, being careful not to jar her ankle again. Nicole had wrapped it tightly when they came in, but it still hurt. She had to lean on Emily for support as she made her way to their room.

"Are you sure you're going to be all right on your own?" She asked Emily once they were inside the room. She sat on her own bed gratefully.

"I'll be fine. It's just one room after all!" The other woman said cheerfully. "You just keep your foot up.'

"I will….and if someone asks why your working alone or anything, tell them it's my fault."

"No one is going to ask," Emily waved that away. "I had better get going. It's not like anyone will really be paying attention long enough to tell that there's only one of us there when there should two, but someone is bound to notice if there's no one at all there."

"Then get going! Don't get yourself in trouble!"

"Are you that eager to get rid of me?" Emily teased as she walked toward the door. "Keep off your foot, all right?"

"I will, I will. I'll pay you back for this somehow."

"Don't worry, I'll remind you of that!" Emily gave her a wave as she left. Irene waved back, then settled back in bed, bunching her blankets up and propping her foot on top of them. Then she settled back and tired to think of something to do to pass the time.

There wasn't much in the small room really, there was her and Emily's beds, each with a small chest at the foot of it that held the few possessions a servant had. There was just enough space for a small nightstand between the beds, with the few books they had managed to purloined from storage rooms and discard piles piled underneath it. There was also a small piece of paper hanging on the wall that they used to mark off the days. It was the only way to keep track of exactly how much time had passed. With no sun, there was only the perpetual twilight outside and the only way to keep track of how much time had passed was to make a mark when the wall lamps dimmed.

The wall lamps, a very bright flickering flame in a small glass glob attached to the wall, were the primary sources of illumination for the castle. They were one of the mysteries of the Underworld that Irene had learned not to question. The lights never needed anyone to tend them, burned much brighter than flames should, and they always, always dimmed a bit to signal that it was 'night' for the people that lived in the castle. The lights in the hallway only dimmed just enough to be noticeable, but the ones in the rooms went almost all the way out. That was the reason almost everyone kept candle or an oil lamp like the one sitting on the night stand, in their rooms.

After the first few 'days' she had just come to accept the lights and not question them, the same way she had learned not to question where the supplies the soldiers brought in came from or why there was an underground passage that seemed to lead to all the Prisons, even though everyone said that should have been impossible with the way the Underworld was laid out. She was dead and working for an ancient Greek god in the Underworld. She should expect at least a few strange things. If she tried to figure out the answers to everything, she was either going to give herself a headache or drive herself mad. Neither of those outcomes sounded very appealing.

Growing bored with staring around the room, Irene reached down and pulled out one of the books she had stored there. She had read it several times already though, and quickly grew bored with that as well. The few small crafts projects she had were packed away in her trunk and it hurt to much to actually get up and get them out. Eventually, with nothing else to do, she let herself drift off to sleep.

The next day, despite Emily worrying over her, she limped out to work. Her ankle throbbed and she winced nearly each time she took a step but there wasn't much choice in this. The days of Orphee's visits were always chaotic so her absence might not have been noticed. But if someone realized she wasn't working on a regular day, she would be in trouble.

She had intended to take her time and move slowly, but she hadn't realized how much just trying to stand on her ankle would hurt. Every time she though she had a semi comfortable position she was forced to move again. It hurt and she found herself working far slower than she thought she would be, including pausing to lean on her broom or the wall to take pressure off her foot when the pain became too much.

By the time the morning was mostly over, she had barely gotten anything done. She hadn't even gotten to the rooms she was suppose to be cleaning to left. With a wince she picked up her bucket her bucket and hobbled toward one of the rooms, giving a soft hiss of pain with each step. This was not going to be an easy day.

"You there!" A firm voice called. Irene stopped what she was doing and looked back automatically. Very rarely did anyone who was above them know the name of the servant they were addressing, so she was not surprised to see that the person approaching her was far above in her rank. But it was surprising to see her in this part of the castle.

"Lady Mita," she said, bowing her head in respect to her. Everyone called her Lady. Not only because of her rank but because of her aura and mannerisms. "Is there something you need?"

"Would you please tell me why you are limping so badly?" the handmaiden said in even tones. Irene swallowed. Lady Mita was one of the people she hadn't wanted noticing her when she was like this.

"I..it's nothing Lady Mita," she managed to say. "Was there something you needed?" Mita never came this way, _ever, _which was why she had felt confident that she wouldn't been seen.

"No, I have finished the task that Lady Pandora assigned me. But you are not to lie to me. You are in much pain. What happened to you?" Irene glanced up, then quickly looked down again, not being able to meet Lady Mita's intense gaze.

"I just twisted my ankle a bit is all, Lady Mita," she muttered, hoping the handmaiden wouldn't ask too many questions.

"I see," was the response to her statement There as silence for a time and Irene began to hope that she had actually bought it

"Just how long ago did this happen?" Lady Mita asked finally. Irene swallowed.

"Not that long ago Lady Mita. I shall be fine." she answered.

"Really? If that is so then why is only a patch of this hallway done?" This time the handmaiden's voice was rather icy. "Did you do so little before you were injured? You know Lord Hades opinion of those that abuse his mercy."

"No I….!" Irene looked away. "I was injured before I started working Lady Mita…"

"When exactly?" There was a no nonsense tone in Lady Mita's voice that told her it would not be good if she kept trying to dodge the question.

"..yesterday…" Irene almost whispered in response.

"I see…" Irene glanced up to find Lady Mita studying her. She watched the other woman, waiting for her to walk away or something. There was no need for her to waste time here. But she didn't move.

"Might I ask how you injured your manage to twist your ankle so badly?"

Irene swallowed, not wanting to give details. Explaining exactly how she had twisted it would be embarrassing and wouldn't exactly inspire confidence in her. "I tripped is all, Lady Mita."

"Tripped?" Lady Mita gave her a look. "What did you trip over that cause you to injure yourself so badly? Did you fall down the stairs?"

"No.." she didn't want to admit to her mistake. It sounded stupider and stupider the more she thought about saying it out loud.

"Then what did you do?" Lady Mita pressed. Irene sighed. It didn't even occur to her to lie to someone like Lady Mita so she mumbled very, very softly.

"A broom Lady Mita."

"What was that?" The handmaiden frowned at her. "Speak clearly and talk louder, I could not understand you!" Irene swallowed and said a fraction louder.

"I tripped over a broom, Lady Mita." She flushed as she finished saying it. It had sounded as stupid as she feared when she said it out loud like that.

"A broom?" Lady Mita raised an eyebrow and Irene felt herself go even redder. Then the handmaiden sighed. "What ever the cause of your injury I, you must consider the position you find yourself in. Lord Hades himself does not have any use for those that cannot fulfill the duties they were brought here to do. Your injury is not serious, yet at the same time it is s effecting your performance and your ability to do your job. This cannot, will not, be overlooked. We have no place for anyone who is useless." Irene felt her heart sinking and terror began to build. If Lady Mita decided that she was not fit to work anymore then..then… Some of her terror must have shown on her face because Lady Mita's expression softened slightly.

"However, Lord Hades is merciful and your injury does not appear to be one that will effect you in the long run. Allowances can be made for you this time, but remember that this will not always be the case. If injuries after his prevent you from working, or if you begin to take advantage of this kindness, then I cannot guarantee you this same pardon. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Yes," Irene muttered in response, relief making her knees go weak for a second. Here punishments were usually very final and done quickly.

"That being said, do you feel capable of fulfilling your duties here? No matter what allowances have been made, you are not allowed to be lax in your duties." Irene looked around at the hallway nervously. She was sure she could finish but it would be far, far later than she would normally.

"I'll do it Lady Mita, although it will take time too…," she admitted uncertainly, shifting and wincing a bit as her ankle complained. The handmaiden frowned at her, then looked thoughtful.

"Have you ever done anything besides cleaning?" Lady Mita asked.

"No…"

There was a sigh from the handmaiden and then silence. Irene began to fear she had given the wrong answer.

"But I'm willing to learn and I'll try….!"

"I know, I know," Lady Mita interrupted in a dismissive tone. "Tell me, have you ever been near the archives?"

"Archives?" Irene looked at her puzzled. Lady Mita sighed.

"The archives are where the records for those who have been judged reside. I will allow you to work there for three days, that includes today. It's work that is not as physically taxing as what you are doing here, but that does not mean you will be allowed to slack off. You must put as much effort into that as you do in here," Mita explained to her. Irene nodded eagerly.

"I will Lady Mita!"

"Very well.." Lady Mita rattled off a set off directions. "Be there in an hours time. I will have someone there to explain your duties to you when you arrive."

"I will be there. Thank you, Lady Mita!" Irene looked up at her and smiled. The handmaiden gave her a nod and what might have been the ghost of a smile, then turned and glided away. Irene bowed after her, then quickly turned back to her work. Even tougher ankle still hurt, she still couldn't help but feel extraordinarily happy that she was not only being punished, but transferred for a few days. It was exciting. Any small changed was a big deal down there and this would, at least, be something different. She would do a little more work here to show Lady Mita that she was serious about not slacking off, then she would put her supplies away and go. She couldn't waste to much time there though. It would take time to get to the archives with her ankle hurting and she did not want to arrive late.

Almost an hour later she stood in front of a heavy, unassuming wooden door that was suppose to lead to the archives. She opened it and hobbled inside. A glance around her showed tall shelves stacked full of documents and she relaxed. This had to be the right place.

"Hello?" She called out and hobbled inside.

"Coming!" A voice called from behind a shelf. There was a rustle of papers and a man with wild red hair poked his head out from behind it. "I'm terribly sorry my…" Then he blinked and actually seemed to notice her. He frowned as he looked her over, then he suddenly looked down. "Ah, you must be that person Mita mentioned um…um…"

"I'm Irene…" she supplied helpfully, a little shocked that anyone would refer to Lady Mita without her titles. All the other servants called her that even when she wasn't around to hear it.

"Irene, right ,right..well come along then," the man turned and walked started to walk away, waving for her to follow him. She hobbled after him as best she could.

"Um, who are you anyway?" Irene couldn't help but ask as they made their way through the tall shelves.

"Didn't Mita bother to explain things too you?" The man asked irritably. "I'm Aiden, head Archivist and the only person trusted to know the filing system here…of course I did create the system myself so they don't have much choice in that."

"I see…" she wondered if that was the truth or if Aiden was just trying to make himself seem important. By the time she had finished thinking that, he had lead her to a desk stacked high with papers.

"I shall assume you don't know this, since very few of my fellow servants seem to pay enough attention to things to notice what's going on, but this paper work is records of all those who have been judged. Lady Pandora demands that we keep track of it all," Aidan explained as he tapped the stacks. "The archives are were the records of everyone, even those of us that work here, are stored." Irene stared at the stacks in shock.

"That many people get Judged everyday?" she asked in disbelief.

"Oh, no, no," Aidan shook his head. Irene relaxed somehow finding it comforting that this must have been building up over several days… "These are only the records from this morning."

"What?" She exclaimed in shock, but Aiden just shoved a very long list in her hand and pushed her toward the desk impatiently.

"That is a list of all those who have been judged so far today. You check to make sure there's a record for each of them, then sort them into who they were Judged by and where they were sent too," Irene gave him a confused expression and he frowned at her. "Don't look at me like that! This is the easy part! It's mostly Lord Minos doing the judging anyway. I'll be the one running around putting everything away, since the filing system is far too complicated for me to waste time trying to explain it to you. Now sit down and get to work!" Irene hesitated and he flapped his hands at her. "Go on, work, work!"

With a sigh Irene sad at the desk and stared at the piles of papers before her. Aiden nodded with satisfaction when she was seated then set off into the shelves again. He paused before he disappeared from sight. "Oh and Mita said something about keep your foot up. There's a chair over to the left somewhere, use that!" Then he was gone. Irene stared after him for a while before levering herself out of the chair.

"You could have told me that sooner!" She grumbled as she went in search of the chair. Eventually she found it and dragged it back to the chair, wincing a little. She hadn't noticed how much she used her ankle during simple tasks like this until now. But eventually she got it over. She found she could sit most comfortably if she sat sideways on the chair so she could proper her leg up. It caused her to twist slightly to reach the desk and that was annoying, but at least her foot hurt less.

She set to work shuffling through the papers and trying to make sense of them. Although she didn't remembering being able to read and write Greek while she was alive, for some reason down here it was something everyone could do, no matter where you came from. It was just another thing she had just learned to accept.

Aiacos was a bit annoyed with the day so far. Lady Pandora had called him in to report that several Specters had come in complaining that a favorite servant of theirs, a woman named Moema, had disappeared. Since she couldn't be found around the castle, she had most likely been judged. Lady Pandora herself hadn't given the order for that, or even been told of it, so the only way it could have happened was if another Specter or a Judge had decided to send her away. If that was true Lady Pandora wanted to know who it was so that she could scold them for not asking her permission or at least informing her first. That was why she had asked him to find out what was going on.

That had first meant asking Minos if he had judged her since he was on duty. That had lead to a shrug and a 'I can't be bothered to remember everyone I've judged'. Since he wasn't sure if Minos was telling the truth he had to go hunt down the list of those who had been judged this morning and _that _ had already been sent back to the archives. He would have to go all the way back to the castle to get it. If he had know that he had to go the archives he would have just _gone _there instead of making the trek all the way out to the court house. He hoped that the unfortunate Specter who had caused all this stayed out of his way once he figured out who he was. Being forced to run around like this was not something he was enjoying.

"The list of those judged?" Aiden muttered once he had arrived in the archives and had located the man. As odd and borderline disrespectful as he could get at times, Aiacos had to admit that there was nothing the man didn't know about the archives. He knew where everything was and could find whatever papers you were looking for instantly. "If you want the most recent one, Lord Aiacos, then you'll have to check with the new girl. She has it at the moment," Aiden said and wave his hand off to the left vaguely. "She's over there. Now I have work to do. If you'll excuse me Lord Aiacos…" And he was off again into the shelves. Aiacos consider going after him but decided that he wanted to get the assignment overwith more than he wanted to argue with a servant. He went off to look for this 'new girl' and get the list from her.

It didn't take him long to find the clear area and the desk in the center of it. Another servant was seated at it, industrially sorting papers. She was too involved to notice him as he walked up, so he rapped on the desk to get her attention. The servants paused, looked up and him and _squeaked _ in surprise.

"L..lord Aiacos! How can I help you?" she said quickly.

"I was told you have the list of those recently judged?" He asked. She started scrambling through the papers.

"Ah I do…um..it's right here…"

"May I see it then?" He demanded, a little more irritably than he normally would. After being run around he was in no mood to humor a servant when it should be obvious he wanted to look at the list. Why else would he have bothered coming here and asking her about it?

"Ah, sure…" She scrambled around with her papers, then pulled out a long list and held it out toward him. "Here you are, Lord Aiacos." He took the list without a word, reading it over, annoyed that this was what he had come all the way here for. At least Minos did take his duties as his judge seriously and was profession when he was fulfilling that role….most of the time. At least, Aiacos admitted grudgingly, he had the most legible handwriting out of all the Judges. A quick run through of the list soon turned up that he had been looking for. Unfortunately the list only showed that she had been judged, not any of the other relevant information. If she had done something bad enough that it had gotten her dismissed so quickly then it should have shown up when she had been judged…he looked up to find the servant had stopped working and was watching him anxiously.

"Do you know where the records for this woman are?" He asked, showing her the list and tapping at the name. Not that he expected her to know…he would have to go hunt out Aiden again just because the archivist hadn't stuck around when he was the one in charge here.

"Oh, I have them right here," she started to shuffled papers. "Um, well her records are here somewhere…give me a moment Lord Aiacos.." Aiacos sighed and leaned against the desk. While he was grateful he didn't have to go chasing the archivist, he wished the girl had kept better track of the papers. He studied her idly as he waited for her to find the papers. Light green hair, light blue eyes….and she was sitting rather oddly. He hadn't really noticed it earlier when he had come up, but a position like that would hardly be the most comfortable when doing desk work. Slightly curious he craned his neck over to see what could cause her to sit like that. It didn't take more than a glance to figure out there had to be something wrong with the foot she had wrapped so rightly and propped up.

"What is wrong with your foot?" He asked out of idle curiosity.

Only an idiot didn't know what the three Judges and nearly all the higher ranked Specters looked like. They might have very little do to with the Servants, but you didn't want to take the chance that you offend someone you didn't mean too.

She had only seen Lord Aiacos once before, at a distance, but she still knew who he was. Specters so rarely asked the cleaning staff for things that she had been caught off guard at his requests. She was thankful that she had recognized the name Moema, the woman had been a servants and a member of the harem, so the sight of her name on the papers had shocked her. She hadn't even known she was gone.

But now with Lord Aiacos standing right there she couldn't find where she had put the piece of paper contain that even though she could have sworn she's had it two minutes ago and had put it in the proper pile and….his question caught her off guard.

"Me?" She asked automatically, wondering why a Judge would be wondering about that, then quickly flushed when she realized that she was the only one he could be talking to and her question had sounded stupid. "I just injured my ankle a bit is all, Lord Aiacos."

"How?" Lord Aiacos didn't sound as if he was really that interested in her answer, but she didn't dare leave a question a Judge had asked unanswered.

"It was a stupid accident Lord Aiacos, there's not need to concern yourself," she muttered then spotted the documents he had been looking for. "Here are the records you requested Lord Aiacos," she said as she held them out to him. He took the papers, but he was looking at her curiously.

"What sort of 'stupid accident'?" He asked, this time sounding curious now . She swallowed and blushed. Being seen as disrespectful just to spare her pride was not something she wanted. Doing things like that could get you killed here.

"I tripped over a broom," she mumbled softly. There was a pause then she glanced up to find him looking amused.

"A broom?" He asked as he glanced over the papers and then sighed.

"I _said _it was a stupid accident." She said in response, then realized that her tone was almost disrespectful. She was sure Lord Aiacos would at least scold her for it but the Judge just gave her a rather amused grin and walked away, papers in hand.

"Lord Aiacos!" Aiden's voice rang out as he came out from between the shelves, a stack of papers in his hands. "After you are done with those, please return them directly to me. The last time you took papers from here put them back on the wrong shelves…in the exact wrong place. I would appreciate you not messing up my system this time." Irene caught her breath, sure that Lord Aiacos would do something about disrespect like that, but he only gave him an annoyed glance before sweeping out. She stared, surprised Aiden had managed to get away with something like that. Then Aiden glanced her way and frowned.

"What are you staring at? You aren't close to being finished! Get back to work!"

"Fine, fine," She sighed and started reordering the files again. Then she blushed. Bad enough Lady Mita had learned of her accident, but why did a Judge have to learn of her mistake? She vowed to never look that bad in front of a Specter again.


	5. Chapter 5

-1After several more hours of working in the archives Irene thought she had started to get the hang of sorting the papers. Aiden would occasional come by to pick up the stacks of paper she was done with, and he had stopped impatiently telling her to 'sort faster girl!' before he disappeared off into the shelves again. She actually preferred the times when she could see him, even though he barely said a word to her. It was kind of creepy when she could only hear his footsteps walking amongst the shelves but couldn't see him.

As she finished with another stack of papers, Aiden returned to the desk.

"That is enough for tonight," he said as he grabbed her recently completed stack.

"But there're still papers left," she said as she looked over the still crowded desk. Aiden snorted.

"If you wished to stay until everything was done, you would be her for eternity. You've put in a full days work here. Never fear I'll tell Mita that you did give full effort in your work. Now get to bed please. I have other duties to attend to."

"If you're sure that's enough for one day…" she muttered as she stood, a little annoyed by his attitude. It wasn't her fault Mita had assigned her here!

"I said was, didn't I? Now, go on, shoo, shoo!" He actually flicked his hands at her, causing her to frown as she muttered her goodbyes and headed out.

"It wasn't like I was inconveniencing him that much!" she muttered aloud as she made her way out the door. She nearly ran into the tall figure on the other side when she opened it. She quickly took a step back, wincing as her ankle twisted slightly. "I'm sorry…" Then she saw who it was and she felt her breath catch.

"L..lord Rhadamanthys..!" she whispered, staring up at the blond Judge. It had started to seem like ages ago that she had made her apology but seeing him brought back the fact that it had only been yesterday when she had spoken with him There was that familiar puzzled look she had seen last time she had spoken…and she realized she was just standing there staring. She quickly moved out of the way and bowed her head. "Please excuse me Lord Rhadamanthys!" she said. There was no reply, then he just walked by her. She stayed that way as she heard him walk deeper into the archives. Only when she looked up and couldn't see him did she swallow, then quickly dart out into the hallway.

It shouldn't have come as a shock to her to see him there. He was a Judge and she had been told that was a record room for those Judged. It made sense that he would show up there. She wouldn't have been surprised that he hadn't recognized her or said a word to her when he saw her. He was a Judge, one of the thee highest ranked Specters and she was a servant. He had no reason or cause to recognize her. But she was upset over that fact and that was what didn't make any sense here. She wanted him to noticed her and at least say something, even though she knew that was impossible.

Aiacos readjusted the books he was carrying under his arm as he headed back from the library the castle boasted. Not many Specters seemed take advantage of it, even though there was precious little besides reading to do in the Underworld. He supposed that they had managed to find other ways of distracting themselves.

As he walked past the corridor that lead to most of the Specters room, he stopped. Harpy Valentine was leaning against the wall at the juncture and he did not look good. His hair looked like he hadn't combed it in days and he had dark circles under his eyes. Normally Aiacos didn't go bother much with gossip, he found most of it boring and it was beneath a Judge to listen to it. But sometimes he would make an exception to the rule. The Underworld did get boring and he was always curious when he found something that looked like if might be the least bit interesting and would serve for at least a few minuets distraction.

"Valentine," he said in greeting, the Specter looked up and actually smiled slightly.

"Ah, Lord Aiacos," he sounded almost relieved. "May I have a word with you?"

"Of course…" Aiacos said, curious about what the Specter could want with him now. Technically it was part of his duties to do things like this since he was one of the leaders of the Specters, he just wasn't called upon to do it much. Valentine shifted uncomfortably and didn't say anything. Aiacos sighed. "Not sleeping well?" He asked out of curiosity since Valentine seemed to have trouble talking. The Harpy Specter nodded.

"Yes, and that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.."

"I'm not a doctor or a physiatrist," Aiacos said flatly. He had no objection to talking to the other Specters but he was not going to play counselor to them. That was not his job.

"No, no, no, it's nothing like that!" Valentine said quickly. "But I would like to request that you stop the feud that Pharaoh and Sylphid have going on."

"Feud? How long has this been going on?" That did sound interesting, although it was a bit worrying too. Lady Pandora very much frowned on Specters trying to actually hurt each other or starting fights for no reason. Not only would she punish those Specters involved but she would demand to know why they, as Judges, hadn't done anything to stop it. It was better to try and nip things like this before it attracted attention.

"Only a couple of days," Valentine admitted. "It's stupid really. Sylphid was trying to get some sleep, but Pharaoh was up practicing late and their rooms are next to each other so Sylphid got annoyed and went to complain to him. Only it kind of went wrong and they started yelling…"

"So they started fighting?" Aiacos asked. "I am not going to cover for them if they've done anything to make Lady Pandora mad.." But Valentine was shaking his head.

"No, no, they didn't start fighting…I'm not sure what happened but Sylphid went back to his rooms and Pharaoh was silent for a while. Then he started to play again. Then Sylphid yelled at him again. Then he went quiet for a while and started to play again. And then they did it _again." _

"…It went on all night, didn't it?" Aiacos asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. I was ready to kill _both _ of them after a while. My room is one the other side of Pharaohs and I swear if they do the same thing again tonight I am going to," the Harpy Specter growled. "I don't care if I have to explain things to Lady Pandora!"

Aiacos sighed, slightly annoyed at both the Specters for getting into such a petty argument and at himself for actually being curious about what was going on. Of course even if he hadn't stopped, it wouldn't have stopped Valentine from telling him about it. For some reason the Specters seemed to think they should come to _him _whenever they had a problem. He could understand why they wouldn't want to talk to Pandora, and considering how Minos would snark about it before he did anything he could see how that would be unappealing.

But why the hell didn't they go to Rhadamanthys once in a while? He would do anything to make sure Lady Pandora didn't have to punish other Specters…he said she hated it and that she felt bad about causing them pain although Aiacos hadn't seen any remorse the one time he had been subjected to her 'punishment'.

Or, Aiacos thought, realizing that most of the Specters that came to him were those that served under the Wyvern, they didn't want their beloved leader to know they were acting like idiots. Did his Specters go to Minos? Or was it just that Rhadamanthys's Specters seemed far more loyal to him. Aiacos didn't know why they followed him with such fervor. His own Specters might show him respect and a bit of loyalty but he didn't get the same outright thoughtless devotion Rhadamanthys did. He wondered why the Specters followed him like that. There wasn't much that difference between them, was there?

He sighed, pushing that to the back of his mind, "I'll deal with it," he said to Valentine.

"Thank you Lord Aiacos," the Specter said. Aiacos only grunted in reply and headed off to see if Pharaoh was still in his room. If he could catch the Sphinx Specter before he left, then he could get this over with quickly.

Her second day of working in the archives started off rather uneventfully. Sorting piles really wasn't that exciting and since Aiden didn't appear to care much for her conversation, she was getting bored. Lord Rune delivering a stack of papers was the only high part of the day so far had. That hadn't lasted long since he had only dropped them off before leaving, not pausing to say anything to her. Not that she had expected him too. Although she noticed the Specter at least seem to acknowledge Aiden, even if he didn't say anything.

"The Specters seem to respect you," she said the next time he came to pick up some papers for her. He sniffed.

"I am far to valuable for them to upset. As long as I am respectful and do nothing but my job, they do not dare touch me," the archivist said loftily as he carefully settled the papers into his arms. "I make myself valuable to them in a way no one else is, and they, in turn, offer a drop of respect without realizing what they are doing." He shifted a stack of papers.

"It is, in some respects, not that different from what the harem does. Our methods might be far different, but the goal is still the same; to become invaluable to those we serve as individuals. What the Harem has not realized is that while, as a whole, they are a needful thing, the individual members of it are highly replaceable. Thus, they become one of a group and are therefore incapable of being truly useful in the way they seek."

"I see.." Irene muttered as Aiden swept off with the papers, although she really had no clue what he had been trying to say. Instead she went back to work, concentrating on doing a good job. She wasn't sure how much time had passed when Aiden came back.

"It's almost time for you to go," he said shortly gathering the last of her papers up. "You can finish this stack…." he stopped, trailing off and looking off the right as he frowned slightly, "You can finish this stack tomorrow. For now take these to the backroom, then leave for the day." He shoved the papers toward her as she started to stand. She gave him a blank look but he growled and flapped his hands at her. "Don't just stand there! Move, move!"

"My foot.." she started to say, but Aiden just shoves the papers at her again.

"Just go!" Irene grumbled but did as she was told. As she hobbled into the shelves she head Aiden's voice ring out from behind her, "Lord Minos, what do you need?"

She quickly headed toward the back, wanting to put space between her and the Judge. Getting caught by him was the last thing she wanted and Nicole had been right, he would take noticed if he saw her limping. After she had set the papers down, she rather reluctantly made her way toward the door, staying as far away from the area she had last seen Lord Minos. When she reached the door she made sure there was no one near by before creeping up to it and peering out to make sure Lord Minos wasn't there before she slipped out and limped down the hallway. Hopefully he wouldn't come out and see her.

"I already said that you are to stop this Pharaoh," Aiacos growled. Tracking down Sylphid had been relatively easy…the man had been out on the training grounds reserved for the Specters. After getting his agreement that he would let everything drop if Pharaoh would just stop and pretend the whole thing had never happened. Finding Pharaoh however, had been another matter. He had finally located the Specter dozing with his lyre in his lap in an out of the way corner of the prison he guarded, far out of Cerberus's reach. He looked as if he hadn't gotten anymore sleep than Valentine and Slyphid had, although he had at least made some effort to get himself in order.

"There is nothing to stop Lord Aiacos," Pharaoh said smoothly. "That was just a disagreement that was blow out of proportion. There was no need to get you involved. Sylphid was probably exaggerating when he complained to you."

"Sylphid wasn't the one who complained," Aiacos said shortly. "The two of you aren't the only Specters that serve Lord Hades and not all of the others are going to stand for you continuing this stupid feud."

"I am perfectly capable of defending myself," Pharaoh said loftily, "They will be the ones that come off worse if they decide to stop me."

"Personally, I don't care. If you want to get yourself killed because of stupidity, that's your call. But since I don't want Lady Pandora to get upset over Specters fighting each other, I'm telling you to stop," Aiacos said crossly, not liking the tone in which the other Specter had addressed him.

"And if I don't?"

Aiacos flared his comos slightly speaking slowly and evenly. " I am telling you to stop Pharaoh. Do you really want to argue with me?" For a few seconds Aiacos thought that Pharaoh was actually going try and challenge him. Their gazes locked and then Pharaoh looked away.

"Very well Lord Aiacos," The Specter grumbled, "I will stop my argument with Basilisk Sylphid. But if he chooses to try and prolong it then I will not back down."

"Sylphid has already agreed to back off when you do. If the two of you decided to continue this, then I'm Lady Pandora will be very interested as to why the two of you went against the direct orders of Judge." Pharaoh had to pause and think about that when he said it, then paled slightly. Clearly he didn't want to anger Pandora anymore than Aiacos himself did.

"We'll make peace, Lord Aiacos," the Sphinx specter grumbled as he went back to his music. He did not look happy about it. Aiacos turned and left, wondering if he would be forced to teach Pharaoh to respect him at some point in the near future. The man was getting far to arrogant for his own good.

The trip through the underground passage that lead to Hades Castle was a bit disorienting as always. It was felt odd for him toe leave a prison of hell, walk down a barren hallway, then emerge into the castle even though he _knew _there ware several other valleys and prisons that it had to lead through. There was no sign of that in the hallway. Just stairs at certain intervals leading up to doors that lead out to the prisons.

When he finally reached the door that lead out into the castle proper, he stopped long enough to glance back at the stairs and shake his before heading off to his rooms. As he made his way down a hallway he stopped a figure leaning awkwardly against a wall. When he got a little closer he realized it was only a servant, a female was. Her hair was a naggingly familiar shade of light green, but it wasn't until he was almost level with her that he realized she was favoring her foot before why she was so familiar finally clicked.

"You didn't trip over something else did you?" he said aloud when he got close enough. The servant jumped and tried to turn to face him, but she had set her foot down when he startled her and when she turned her ankle slight it cause her to yelp in pain and stumbled back against the wall. Then, as she regained her footing she saw him and swallowed before bowing to him slightly.

"Hello Lord Aiacos," she said mumbled self consciously.

"What are you doing out here? I thought you worked with Aiden," he asked, curious as to why she as limping around the halls.

"He said I was done for the day and sent me away," the servant answered "I was just on my way back to my quarters."

"Did you hurt yourself on the way?" He said, "You were leaning against the wall…"

"No, I'm fine!" she said quickly, "but I'm still recovering so I decided to be careful and rest. I don't want to hurt myself again. Lady Mita would be…mad."

It took Aiacos a few seconds to remember that Mita was the name of Lady Pandora's personal servant. It made sense that the over servants would be respectful to someone who had Lady Pandora's ear, but the way she said that had shown there was an almost affection emotion behind her words. Maybe Lady Pandora had chosen her handmaiden because she knew she was respected by her fellow servants? Or did the servants respect at fear Mita because she was connected to Lady Pandora? It wasn't something Aiacos had thought about before. Not that he paid much attention to the servants or their internal pecking order. He hadn't even realized there might be something like that amongst them. All servants were suppose to have the same rank as far as he knew.

But then again they were human, and he that meant they would try to find a way to make themselves seem better than others.

"I guess a lame servants wouldn't be of any use to Lord Hades," Aiacos said thoughtfully. The servant paled and nodded. Some colored trained from her face, although she was tanned and it was a bit hard to tell when you weren't this close to her.. "But at least you're smart enough not to push yourself," he finished and she relaxed. He hadn't realized that it would be that much of a concern to her.

"Thank you Lord Aiacos…um, if you will excuse me..?" she looked up at him question and he nodded.

"Just don't trip over anything else," he couldn't help adding. She gave him a small smile before she bowed, then limped off down the hall. Aiacos turned and continued back toward his rooms. He had to admit that the day had been interesting, even if dealing with the other Specters had been annoying.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to all those who have read and reviewed/favorite my story! It means a lot to me. Anyway, I'm pleased I managed to get this done in time for Valentines Day. I figured it would be only appropriate that I post it today since it's a very fluffy chapter.

***********

Irene frowned at the papers in front of her, trying to pay attention to them. This was her last day here and she wanted to prove that it hadn't been a mistake to give her a second chance. But when the letters started to swim and she felt a headache starting, she had to sigh and lean back, rubbing her eyes. She didn't see how Aiden could do this everyday. Reading the tiny handwriting was hard, even if most of it was neat. It made her eyes hurt.

At least all the Judges had neat handwriting. She didn't think she would have been able to last this long if they had been sloppy or hard to read. She wounded how Aiden could stand this, day in and day out, or how he could actually seem to _enjoy_ it. Maybe there was a reason he wore those classes all the time. When she had first come here someone had told her she wouldn't have to worry about stuff like that since _technically _she was dead and a soul, so tiny physical disabilities like problems with eyesight would be gone and couldn't come back. But she really wondered if anyone knew that for _sure _or if it was just rumor. She was glad she wasn't going to be here long enough to risk having to wear glasses.

She would have liked to continue resting, but she needed to be working. Aiden knew Lady Mita. What if he was watching her and reporting on her. She bent back to work.

"Irene?" The familiar voice made her look up, since this was not the place she had expected to hear it.

"Nicole?" she asked, surprised that the cook was even down here. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, shouldn't I be the one asking that?" Nicole said and held up a tray. "I have to deliver the meals around here, remember? But you're suppose to be mopping floors, not sitting at a desk! What happened?"

"This," she nodded at her foot still resting on the chair, "happened. Lady Mita saw me limping around ordered me here for a few days."

"Lady Mita saw you like that?" Nicole nearly dropped her tray. "Irene! You know what could have happened if she thought you couldn't work anymore!"

"I know, I know," Irene sighed, "but it's not like I meant to for this happen! I was just trying to work!"

"You should have been more careful! If someone decides you're to clumsy and a liability, you're going to get fired!"

"I'm not going let that happen!" Irene knew that everyone down here was terrified of getting fired and she was not the exception. "I'll just be sure to be careful from now on!"

"Extra careful Irene. You know you won't get a second chance if you mess up again," Nicole cautioned.

"Lady Mita already told me that," Irene replied. "I'll just have to make sure to do an even better job than before!"

Nicole's lips twitched into a smile. "Good plan. How long are you stuck here again?"

"This is my last day," Irene said, turning back to her work. "I think Aiden will be glad to see me go."

"He hasn't been giving you a hard time has he?" Nicole said, suddenly serious. "Everyone knows he's a bit odd and doesn't really like people."

"No, he hasn't. I mean he's particular about everything but he hasn't been too bad," she decided not to mention he had also saved her from Minos. She didn't want Nicole to get anymore worried than she already was.

"Good," her friend said, "just tell me if he does start being an ass. I'll set him straight." Irene couldn't help smiling slightly.

"Thanks," she said aloud wile wondering if there was really anything Nicole could even _do _to Aiden. He had a special status for a servant. Like Lady Mita, no one knew exactly how long he had been here. Even the Specters seemed to offer him some respect. Anything Nicole could say probably wouldn't even register with him. But it was a nice gesture.

"Anyway, I should probably get my job done now. Take care Renie," Nicole waved at her and Irene waved back.

"You too, Nicole," she said as her friend went out of sight and she went back to work.

It was easy to fall into a rhythm as she was doing the work. After a while, Irene stopped noticing Aiden coming and going. It was only when she realized that there was no more papers for her to go through did she look up startled. Aiden was standing next to her desk, gathering the last of the papers. She blinked at him in confusion.

"What are you waiting for?" Aiden said curtly, "you're done here. You can leave."

"I…am?" she said, slowly flexing her hands to stretch them.

"Yes. Now you might want to hurry before the lights dim," Aiden said, shuffling his papers and ignoring her dumfounded expression.

"It's that late?" she asked and received only a nod in return. Quickly she stood up. Her ankle felt much better. There was still a twinge when she moved it at times, but for the most part it appeared normal. "Ummm…it was nice working with you Aiden."

"Hmm, I suppose you weren't that bad although I would not wish to repeat this experience," he said, not looking up from his papers. "Your work is passable at the very least, although not up to my quality of course. "

"Of course," Irene muttered as she headed out the door.

********

Adien watched her go, then turned to put the last stack of papers away. He nearly ran into the person who had stepped out from between the shelves.

"Mita," he said irritably, "I wish you would stop this childish tendency to sneak up on me."

"I don't try to," Mita answered, smiling slightly. "You just get so absorbed in your work that you don't notice anyone coming up behind you. You'd think after all these years you would develop a sense of self preservation."

"I have no need to. After all this time I am far to valuable for them to get rid of," Aiden said, "why are you here? Checking up on the girl?"

"Yes," Mita admitted. "I wanted to make sure that she was worth of the chance I gave her."

"And?" Aiden asked.

"I believe she is," Mita answered. "she was a hard worked and turned her full attention to her duties. It would be a shame to get rid of her over a mere accident."

"You're relived by that," Aiden noted. "I know that you dislike being forced to decide who stays and who gets fired."

"As if you aren't relived," Mita shot back. "That's the most fond of I've seen you become of anyone I've sent to you. "

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Aiden sniffed, "but while you're here, would you indulge me in a game of chess after I'm done? You're the only person in the entire underworld who actually knows how to play the game right."

"I'm sure there are others who can," Mita said, chuckling, " you just refuse to associate with anyone long enough to find out."

"Say what you will," Aiden grumbled, "but do you want a game or not?"

"I'll play you," Mita said, "shall I set up the board in the back?"

"Yes, I shall join you there shortly."

Each of them set out, Aiden to finish his duties and Mita to do as she had said, chuckling under her breath the whole time.

********************

Irene supposed that she should be grateful there weren't very many small decorations and knickknacks in the castle. It meant less things to move as she cleaned, but it also meant that if something was missed, it was even more likely that someone would notice. Irene was always careful to make sure she never gave anyone anything to notice, and would check everything twice before she left. That did mean she took more time than some of the others, but she had always thought that it was worth it since it meant no one could find fault with her work.

It was also something to do. She didn't know why the others would hurry so much to get their jobs done. It wasn't like there was much to do here once you were finished with your work and the punishment was hard if you were caught rushing or slacking. They had all the time in the world now, why act like it was precious?

But there would times, like today, where she sort of understood their reasoning. This wasn't her regular section. According to Lady Mita this was to see if she was ready to assume her normal duties. Well that was what she had _said _but Irene had caught the undercurrent of 'this is a test, don't screw up'. She was also sure that this was some sort of punishment as well. This hallway might not be very long, but the three little bookrooms scattered along it, three of the only rooms with small, breakable objects in them, made it hell to clean. No one wanted to be here and she assumed Lady Mita knew that.

"Well, no help for it..." she sighed, and limped toward the first door. Her ankle did feel much better but it was still tender. At least the one good thing about this section was that it wasn't very long. Lady Mita seemed to have a very good sense of exactly how much work one person could realistically finish in a day. Well, how much work a healthy, fully functioning person could do in a day. Irene wasn't sure how long it would take her to finish, but she was sure she would be here later than usual.

Inside the first door was a bookroom that was, well not exactly cheerful since this was the Underworld and Irene hadn't seen anything cheerful she has he come here, but at least this room was more colorful and comfortable than the other rooms. She hadn't actually been inside this particularly room before. She had the feeling it was usually the preview of one of the upper servants. It was rather opulent, with dark wooden bookcases on three walls, a pair of fancy looking couches in the middle of the room and various small statures scattered everywhere. She headed over to a table set against the back of one of the couches, deciding to start with the candle holders and horse statue on top of it.

It was odd, she thought to herself as she started to move them off of the table, that there was such a weird collection of styles in the castle. The majority of it was obvious Greek inspired but there were other areas, like this room that seemed to be in a more medieval style....

She reached over to lift the last candle stick, and suddenly a hand grabbed her wrist. Irene shrieked, let go of the candlestick and it hit the top of a table with a clang. She barely even noticed as it rolled off the table, to shocked by the slightly tossled Specter that had just sat up.

"Lord Aiacos!" She said in shock, feeling scared, confused and completely unsure what to do. He looked like he had just woken up from a nap and that was probably what he had been doing but she hadn't thought to walk around and check all the couches, only she should have because she had just woken him and he was a judge and he probably didn't like people seeing him like this. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you where here, I'll go if you want me too..!" She tried to pull away but Aiacos apparently wasn't ready to let her go yet and she wasn't strong enough to break the grip on her wrist even though it was beginning to hurt,

She watched as the Garuda Specter blink sleepily several times before he actually managed to focus on her.

"..It's you," he said slowly as he released her wrist. "...that servant from other day."

"Y..yes," she stammered, wondering why he even remembered that. "I didn't mean to bother you..!"

"You already said that," he said leaning back. "What are you doing in here then? Cleaning?"

"Um, yes. Lady Mita assigned me here but if you want to be left alone I can go clean a different room."

"No," Lord Aiacos sighed and laid back. "Do whatever you came here to do. I should have known better than to fall sleep here."

"A..are you sure?" Irene said quickly. The last time she had interrupted a Specter like this was when she had walked in on Lord Minos. Even though everyone said Aiacos was one of the calmer Judges, she still wasn't sure she wanted to be alone with him. He was a Specter after all.

"I just said to go ahead. You should learn to stop questioning things and repeating the obvious," Aiacos had stretched back out on the couch, his head propped up on the arm. Since she had his approval she couldn't just leave now without being rude and disrespectful, so she stepped forward and picked up the candlestick she had dropped, relieved to find that it was fine. If had gotten scratched or broken....she blushed, suddenly aware of the fact that Aiacos was watching her curiously.

Working was harder with someone sitting there watching her. It wasn't as if he was staring or anything but it was still weird to have him looking up at her idly while she polished the table. She finished that as fast as she could, without being to obvious it was just so she could be done and could retreat across the room from the Judge. He was still watching her, but only out of the corner of his eyes.

She could sill feel her neck prickling from it, but it was the same as when she had been able to actually see him looking at her. It was bit distracting so she tried to concentrate as hard as she could on what she was doing in order to shut the feeling out. This worked for a while until she heard Lord Aiacos chuckle.

"Do all servants work so hard or is that just you?" he asked, sounding very amused. Irene jumped a little, startled that he had actually said something to her again.

"All the servants work hard," she said quickly, not being sure what else to say.

"Then I'm surprised the rest of the castle isn't spotless. You looked like you were concentrating on polishing through the wood," Aiacos defiantly sounded amused. Irene chanced a glance back at him giving a rather ironic grin. She quickly turned back to her work

"I have to prove that I'm capable of doing my work Lord Aiacos, that means doing everything beyond my best," she said, carefully dusting off a vase and trying not to notice the Judge behind her.

"Beyond your best? I have to admire your work ethic at least," there was a creak from the couch behind her, as if Aiacos had shifted. She wanted to turn and look, but she didn't want him to think she was spying on him either. Besides, with him here it was doubly important that she do a good job. Lady Mita might have Lady Pandora's ear, but Lord Aiacos was a judge. He could probably get rid of her without even telling anyone else, and even if he couldn't, if she slipped up here Lord Hades was certainly going to find out about it. The thought terrified her, and she started with a little more enthusiasm was needed causing the dust to fly everywhere including up into her face, tickling her nose. She sneezed several times in rapid succession, feeling like an idiot. Apparently Lord Aiacos must have thought that as well, since she heard him chuckle from behind her. With her eyes watering and feeling slightly annoyed, she reacted the way she would to almost anyone else and shot a glare over her should at him. Then common sense kicked in, she realized she was glaring at a Judge hoping he hadn't noticed but apparently he had. Only his response wasn't what she would have expected. He just laughed and she wondered why it was so funny.

She went back to cleaning, being careful not to make a fool of her self. As she finished with the bookcase, she noticed a stray book laying on the table next to it. With a sigh she picked i t up and glanced around to see where it was suppose to go. Maybe Lord Aiacos had left it there before she came in. Although she knew it was her duty, she couldn't help wishing that the Specters would pick up after themselves better.

She couldn't see where the book had came from, so she back up to get a better look at the book shelf. Up on one of the top shelves she spotted a blank spot that looked as if the book had once been there. She eyed the distance, wondering if she could even reach it. She wasn't that short really, but like most of the castle, the bookshelf looked like it was built for looks and majesty more than convince. But there was nothing for it put to try. By standing on her tip toes she was able to brush the top shelf with her fingers. She eyed the book then reached up, trying to edge it over onto the shelf. She got it over the edge, breathed a sigh of relief, and let go. The book tottered...and fell towards her.

Irene yelped in surprise and jumped backwards. The book hit the ground with a slight bang. She stared at it, then went over and picked it. She wouldn't be trying hat again in a hurry. But she had to get the book put away somehow. Irene looked around for something to stand on, like a stool or a chair. It wasn't like she could just climb up the bookcase to reach it!

Suddenly there was sometime behind her. A hand tugged the book from her grasp, and she watched as t reached up to tuck the book back where it belong. She turned around and squeaked, stepping backwards.  
"Lord Aiacos!" she hadn't even heard the Judge come up behind her! She hadn't realized how tall he was either, until he was this close. She swallowed. "You didn't have to do that Lord Aiacos, that was my job..."

"You just nearly killed yourself with a book," Aiacos said sounding amused. "I couldn't let that happen right in front of me. It might have been worse than a killer broom"

"Still, I didn't really need your help Lord Aiacos," she said thinking that she didn't want it getting back to Lady Mita that she had need help to complete her work and slightly stung by his remark. Then she realized how ungrateful it must have sounded. "I mean.." she wince as Lord Aiacos brought his hand up...and patted her on the head.

"Cute," he commented, then stretched "Well, I have work to do, so I'll leave you to yours in peace." She could only nod dumbly as he walked away. He stopped in the door way.

"Girl," he said turning back to her.

"Y..yes?" she stammered.

"What's your name?"

"My...name?" she asked, confused and wondering why a Judge would even care.

"yes, your name," Lord Aiacos said impatiently, "what is it?"

"Irene," she managed to get out. He grinned.

"Irene then, " he said then walked away. Irene stared after him for a few minutes wondering what that had been about. Then she turned back to her cleaning. Regardless of the strange behavior of Judges, she did have work to do.


	7. Chapter 7

-1Bed, Irene had concluded, was one of the better places to be in the world. Especially when you had managed to finish your shift late the night before and needed rest. Which is why she was puzzled she was still awake. She buried her face back in her pillow.

"Irene! IRENE!" a slightly impatient voice snapped as someone shook her. Irene grumbled in annoyance, wondering why someone was being so annoying. She turned over and looked up, to find Emily standing over her, fully dressed, with hands on her hips.

"Hmmm..?" Irene blinked up at her friend sleepily, then her mind caught up with the rest of her. She sat up with a startled squeaked, then threw off her covers. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier!?" she snapped at Emily as she struggled to her out of her sleeping clothes and into her uniform at the same time.

"I didn't think you would sleep through the gong! I didn't think anyone could even do that!"

"Well I did it!" Irene said irritably as she finally stopped struggling and managed to get herself in order. Emily went over to stand impatiently by the door.

"Would you hurry up already?" she said impatiently. Irene nodded and stood up, hurrying out the door as she pulled her light green hair back into a ponytail. The gong was the signal to the servants that the resting period had ended and it was time to get to work. Irene didn't know where the echoing sound of the gong came from or if it was just for the servants, rather than a general wake up call for the castle nor did it really matter to her what it as. All she had cared to pay attention to was that if you weren't down checking your assignments within ten minuets of the wake up call sounding, Lady Mita would be very displeased. You did not want to displease Lady Mita.

Right now, she in particular couldn't afford that displeasure. She could only hope she wasn't late enough that she attracted attention. Emily kept grumbling about the fact that she was going to be late too, but at least she didn't have to worry about her life if Lady Mita noticed.

When they arrived at the assignment board, it was far more crowded than usual and there was no sign of the handmaiden, she breathed a sight of relief.

"Do you think something happened?" she said to her friend. Emily gave her an odd look and paused several seconds before happen.

"Irene, it's _the _day. Lord Orphee is coming! Of _course _something is happening! How could you forget that?"

"Oh!" Irene did a quick calculation in her head and realized it had been five days. For some reason it felt like it had been much longer than that. She hadn't even been thinking about Lord Orphee's visit. It was the first time she could ever forgetting about it.

"Well?" Emily called from half way toward the board, "what are you doing back there? Come on!"

"I am!" Irene shouted as she hurried toward the shorter girl. They reached the job posting just as the others were drifting off to being work, so it didn't take much for them to get close.

"Okay let's see…." Emily ran a finger down the list, and stopped a short way from the top, "Yes! Irene, this time we're really close to…" she trailed off suddenly. "Wait..your name isn't up here. Why isn't your name up here? We're usually together on these days."

"What?" Irene pulled her friend's hand out of the way so she could see the list more clearly. There was Emily's name…and not hers. She frowned and scanned further down the list. She began to get scared when she didn't see her name as she looked farther and father down. Everyone got on the list, no matter what had happened to them. The only reason she wouldn't be on the list was because she wasn't a part of the staff anymore, which meant she was going be fired but she had worked her hardest and Lady Mita hadn't said anything to her…..she finally saw her name near the bottom of the list. She was so relieved it took her a moment to register that she was assigned to a hallway far from the throne room, and that she was suppose to do all the work herself.

"…I think I'm still in trouble with Lady Mita," she sighed.

Emily leaned and frowned. "That's not fair!" she protested, "you've been working hard to make up for this!"

"But what am I suppose to do? I can't really complain to Lady Mita," Irene pointed out. Both of them grew silent, trying not to imagine what would happen if anyone dared to do such a thing. Lord Hades had no use for a servant that was seen as disobedient.

"Anyway…at least you didn't get stuck with Helen," Emily tried to smile but it looked pained. Irene decided not to mention it to her friend.

"That hall is never that dirty either," she said instead, "maybe I can finish early and actually get enough sleep tonight!"

"Lucky you," Emily teased, "…I'll tell you if Lord Orphee is really good as they say, all right?"

"Okay," Irene decided it was her turn to smile this time, although she was eaten up with envy. She did not want to hear about how beautiful Lord Orphee's music was. She did not need to know that he was as good as the rumors said. This wasn't really Emily's fault, but that didn't mean she had to like that her best friend got to be in one of _the _spots closet to the throne room, while she was stuck in a back room. What she wanted to do was finished her work, then go to sleep and try to forget everything that had happened.

"We should probably get to work.." she said outloud. Emily nodded slowly, looking a tiny bit guilty. Irene felt a tiny, vindictive stab of satisfaction, then felt a rush of gilt of her own. Emily was her friend after all. "…Have fun ," she managed to say.

Emily gave her a small smile, then they both headed off to get their supplies.

*************

"In Lord Hades name..!" Aiacos muttered the curse under his breath as he made his way down the hall. He dealt with one problem. One. A problem that had dealt directly with his subordinate so it would have looked bad if he hadn't at least made an effort to deal with it. It was the logical thing for anyone to have done. Even _Minos_ would probably have done something under the circumstances and he liked to watch others squirm.

So why had all of the Specters suddenly concluded that he would deal with all their vague, petty, interpersonal problems? He didn't mind speaking to them in order to know what was going on within the castle or to satisfy his own curiosity, but suddenly they were asking him to actually care about them. Two, _two _of them had approached him today alone. He wasn't sure where they had gotten the idea that he actually liked playing babysitter to a bunch of fools who couldn't even seem to get their own problems in order. They were Specters for Hades sake! Surely they knew better than to go around trumpeting about things like that. At least they seemed to finally be getting the message. The last two he had practically sent running and made it very obvious he would be harder on anyone else that came seeking his 'help'.

He rounded a corner he decided to ignore the fools for now, and concentrate on a more immediate problem; how he was going to get out of the concert today.

If there was one thing that Aiacos had to admit about the Saint that Hades had taken a shine to, it was that Orphee was a damn good musician. He could see why Lord Hades had gone through such great lengths to keep him here. But that did not mean he wanted to sit in on a concert more than once a week.

If it was just the music he might have been glad to go. It as the company that went along with it that he didn't want to deal with. There was his fellow Judges, who he chose to avoid most of the time. Even if he could forget about their presence during the actual performance itself, the moments during and after it was over where when they made their presence felt and when he found them most annoying. Aiacos had decided that Minos either wasn't entirely sane, or at least enjoyed projecting that image in order to mess with the head of everyone else around him. Rhadamanthys was so disgustingly loyal and straight laced that he wondered why they man hadn't snapped yet. All though he respected the strength the other Judges wielded, he did not want to deal with them on a regular basis. It also meant being directly under the eyes of Lady Pandora and Lord Hades for the length of the concert. Much a he respected and worshiped Lord Hades, it was an eerie feeling to having him sitting there doing nothing except…watching. Always watching.

Luckily he, and most likely Minos and Rhadamanthys as well, had already figured out a quick and painless way to dodge the concert if they so wished. After all, if you happened to be late to the concert, it would be rude to make the fuss it would require in order to sit down. Better to pretend to be courteous by not attending at all. Lady Pandora had mostly likely caught onto their little ploy already. She would ask why he had been late the next time she saw him, but as long as he could give some sort of semi-plausible excuse about why he had been late she would drop it. It was only if you didn't offer an excuse that he felt compelled to find some sort of punishment.

He ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out an excuse that both sounded plausible and that he hadn't used so much that it would seem obvious. That was the hard part about these things. Lady Pandora would get annoyed if she heard the same excuse too many times.

Maybe it was because he was looking for an excuse that he spotted the bright splash of color in the long room he turned into. It was a mostly barren area in the castle, and light green stood out against it. More to the point, he knew that color and it gave him pause. It was almost to much of a coincidence to be true and he wondered if Irene was following him. She certainly wouldn't have been the first servant to try something like that. But no, she didn't even seem to be aware of him, and didn't even to seem to see him approach her.

"May I ask what the floor did to you?" he couldn't help ask when he got close enough. She gave a small yelp and jumped turning to look at him with total surprise.

"L..lord Aiacos!" she stammered, "don't sneak up on me like that!" She paused going pale when she realized who she had just addressed, "I..I mean I can't really sense people like you can, so it would be easier on me but you don't have too!"

Aiacos just chuckled, causing her to give him a puzzled look. He decided it was probably a good think she was a servant, not a Specter. Those big light blue eyes of hers were striking, but they were also far to expressive to hide any of her emotions. It would make it far to easy to manipulate her if she had been given any power.

"You never did answer my question," he said aloud as he studied her. "Did this particular floor do something to annoy your, or is there another reason you look like you want to murder it?"

Irene flushed, starting to sweep again, but this time in a much calmer manner. "No, Lord Aiacos. It's nothing, really."

Now he felt slightly curious over this. Technically, 'dealing with a servant' could fall under the header of acceptable reasons to be absent from the concert. It wasn't as if Lady Pandora asked for details anyway. If she did, he could always claim he had been checking on her work to make sure it was up to standards.

"The funny thing I've noticed is that whenever someone claims it's nothing, it usually happens to be something. So what 'something' is bothering you?"

"It really isn't nothing important Lord Aiacos," she said, talking to the floor and her broom, "at least it's nothing that you should be troubling yourself over."

"I shall decided that for myself," he couldn't help answering. "So what is the matter?" He waited for her to reply, but there was only the soft sound of the broom sweeping over the floor as she seemed to concentrate on getting every tiny speck of dust. "…I can order you to tell me, you know. I would much rather you told me of you own volition though."

Irene stopped sweeping and looked up at him, "that isn't really much of a choice Lord Aiacos." She grumbled a little, and was silent for a moment but then she spoke not bothering to look up from her work. "….I think Lady Mita is still mad at me."

"You think so? This doesn't seem like that bad of an assignment." The hallway was long but there wasn't much furniture, or rooms off it to.

Irene shook her head. "It's not…at least it wouldn't normally. It's just…far away." she trailed off, looking sulky.

"Far away from what?" he said dryly. "You're in the palace that belongs to the Underworld. I imagine it's far away from a lot of things despite all the luxury here. From sanity? From safety? From the living world?"

"No.." Irene muttered, embarrassed. "From the throne room."

"Ah, so you mean in the palace itself," Aiacos said as he leaned back against the wall. "Why would a servant care about the throne room? Aside form the special servants Lord Hades has, I wasn't aware that any of you were even allowed in there."

"We aren't," Irene admitted. "But…Lord Orphee performs there and if you're near enough you can hear it."

"I can't imagine it's very clear," Aiacos couldn't help but say, "the doors to the throne room are thick, and they are close to prevent interference once they concert starts."

"You can't really hear it that," Irene admitted, "but it's something and it sounds _so _beautiful…" she trialed off and looked at him suddenly. "Speaking of that, shouldn't you be getting to the concert, Lord Aiacos?"

"Techincially I suppose I should…but I don't really feel like attending it today," he said lightly. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing to tell a servant, but there really wasn't any harm in it. Irene was to low ranked for her words to be heard directly by Lady Pandora, and if rumors managed to reach her ears well, it wasn't as if it was anything new to Pandora herself.

"What?" Irene looked just as shocked as he had announced he as Lord Hades himself, "but it's Lord Orphee! Why would you want to miss that!? "

"Who is in charge of the servants?" he asked apparently. Irene gave him a very confused look before she answered.

"Lady Mita, she takes care of thing for Lady Pandora."

"Imagine you were trying to do something, and you had Mita standing in the corner watching you," he said, Irene stared at him, going slightly pale.

"I don't think I would be able to get anything done," she admitted. "I would be walking on pins and needles, hoping I didn't screw anything up."

"Then now you know why I don't want to see every concert Orphee happens to put on. Lord Hades will be there and I have not wish to put myself under his scrutiny more than I have to."

"Oh," Irene paled slightly as he said Lord Hades name, "I can see why. But don't you miss the music? I heard that Lord Orphee is legendary and that he's been playing here since the time of mythology!"

"He's Orphee, not Orpheus," Aiacos replied, slightly amused. He supposed it was the logical the two names had become connected. Not even all of the Specters knew the full story of why the Saint was here. "They names do sound similar and he is a great musician but he isn't the man from the legend itself."

"But one of the older servants told me that she heard him say he followed Eurydice here!" Irene looked up at him. "Is that true?"

"Yes," he said, not wanting to be forced to explain the whole thing, "but she's not the same person. I don't know if they are decedents or reincarnations and I really don't care enough to find out. All I care is that Orphee is a Saint, and I not matter how good his music is I would prefer that Lord Hades not give him so much freedom."

"A…saint?" Irene stop sweeping and frowned. "I..thought that didn't have anything to do with Hades? I don't remember much from being alive but I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of any myths I read."

"He's not the sort of Saint your thinking of. You do know that Lord Hades occasional wars with some of the other gods?"

"It's kind of hard not to hear that kind of information, Lord Aiacos," Irene said as she smiled slightly. "Everyone knows what the Specters are and that they do have a greater duty to Lord Hades."

"Saints are those that serve Athena. They are her version of Specters," Aiacos explained. "She who Lord Hades fights against."

"But..if he serves then enemy, why does Lord Hades let him stay here?" she looked confused and Aiacos honestly couldn't blame her for that. Although he would never openly question Lord Hades, even he wondered at the wisdom of letting the Saint roam the halls.

"Because he enjoys Orphee's music," was all Aiacos would answer and it really didn't feel like much of an answer to him. "Our Lord believes that as long as his lover his frozen here, Orphee will be content to remain here but I don't trust enemies. He could still turn on us." He fixed Irene with a look, realizing that the servants could prove useful in this. "Irene, there is something I wish you to do."

"What is it Lord Aiacos?"

"..If you hear, or see, Orphee doing anything suspicious, tell me. Even if it seems inconsequential, speak up since it might be important."

Irene looked shocked for a moment, then thoughtful. "You want me to be a spy for you?" She seemed uncertain about that.

"I am not asking you to carry tales about the other servants. I only want to know if you finds something useful about Orphee, an enemy of the Specters and Lord Hades whom you are sworn to serve. You will be helping us. If you find out something truly useful then there is a high possibility you will earn a reward for yourself." Aiacos watched with some satisfaction as her eyes widened then she slowly nodded.

"I'll do my best, Lord Aiacos," she said softly and started to sweep again. He wasn't surprised she had agreed. A servant only very rarely would get this chance at a reward like this. Even if he hadn't offered her the reward, there was little chance she would have refused. A servant would never dare question any Specter, least of all a Judge.

"Good," he said, leaning back against the wall in order to watch her. She flushed a little when she saw what he was doing, and he watched with some amusement as she became a bit clumsy. After a few more minutes of sweeping, she paused and flushed.

"..Lord Aiacos?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes?"

"..Can you move please?" she flushed with embarrassment but gestured towards his feet. "I need to sweep there."

"..I have to get going anyway." he moved away from the wall and pattered her head as he walked past. "I have to go make my excuses to Lady Pandora. Keep up the good work…and remember what I said." He paused to glance back at her and Irene nodded briefly.

"I will, Lord Aiacos."

He gave her a small nod of his own, then headed of toward the throne room. It was late enough that the concert would have started, but he should at least make a token effort to be seen in the area. It was all part of the scene that he was trying to set.

******************

It was almost eerily quiet in the halls. He assumed that the other servants were either hard at work at their tasks, trying to ignore the concert as Irene was, or they would be straining to catch the faint sounds of music. His fellow Specters always seemed to disappear when the concert was going on, something that had always puzzled him. With all their superiors supposable locked away for a period of time, he would have though they would have taken advantage of the relative freedom. Perhaps the Specters weren't as daring as he thought they were.

Or maybe they were just smart enough to have learned that most of the Judges stayed away from the concerts and would be roaming the halls instead.

"Lord Aiacos!" the sound of someone calling to him in that cheerful tone halfway to the throne stopped him. He knew that voice.

"Slpyhid?" he said slightly surprised as the Basilisk specter approached him. "Is there something you need?" At least this could be another excuse. Lady Pandora could hardly blame him for doing his job of leading the other Specters.

"I only wanted to say thanks," he replied, grinning. "Since you told Pharaoh to back off, he's stopped messing around and I've managed to get a goodnights sleep!"

"I only did it to avoid having to clean up after a fight later," Aiacos said a little crossly. He didn't want Slyphid thinking he actually favored the him.

"Whatever reason you did it for, it was a big help." Slyphid smiled at him. "The others agree with me, and it was really nice how you took care of it so quickly."

"Slyphid…" Aiacos said slowly, starting to realize something. "you did by chance happen to mention what I did to the other Specters, did you?"

"It was kind of hard to ignore," Slyphid said lightly. "Half the castle had heard about it, that's why they came asking me. I just told them you were good about it, and you were discrete since Lord Rhadamanthys didn't find out…"

"If you truly want to do repay me Slyphid, then you can do me a favor?" Aiacos growled, getting slightly annoyed.

"What is it?" The Basilisk Specter asked cautiously.

"You can start by not speaking any more about what I did. It was for convinces sake, nothing more, not, as you and your friends seem to think, because I truly care what is happening to you." The judge allowed himself a grim smile. "You can also inform you friends that if they choose to keep annoying me and acting as if I am suppose to take care of their every complaint, I will make them part of a little experiment I have been thinking about conducting."

"…Experiment?"

"I wish to test what would happen to someone if I use Garuda Flap and there is an obstacle, say a ceiling, in in their flight path. It would be interesting to see how that affect the damage it inflicts, would you agree?" Aiacos smiled grimly at the other Specter, who swallowed.

"I'll tell them that, Lord Aiacos." he said. Aiacos wondered if it was really a good idea for him to have drawn inspiration from Minos for a second there. The Griffin Specter was feared by even their own side for his cruelty, but Aiacos had to admit he wasn't bothered by anyone over trivial things. Maybe the tradeoff was worth it for him, and that's why he acted like he did. Aiacos was starting to see the appeal in it.

With a last salute Slpyhid hurried off and Aiacos resumed his walk to the throne room. He saw no one else on his way there, aside for a few servants. As he came into sight of the massive closed doors, he allowed himself a small satisfied smile. He had timed things just right, arriving soon enough that it would seem like he had been hurrying.

His steps slowed a little and he glanced around the area covertly. Now that Irene had pointed it out to him, he could see the few servants in this area were hovering near the door. Although they were moving, they probably didn't dare stay completely still for fear of punishment, he doubted what they were doing would get much work done. It was almost amusing.

He pondered for a second telling Irene that part of the reward for spying as he had instructed her to would be granting her access to the concert in some way. Perhaps talking Pandora into allowing food or drink and having a servant bring it? That would leave it open for any of the servants and could be something to think about.

Aiacos glanced back toward the door, and was faintly surprised by the figure leaning against a wall near it. He would have thought Pharaoh would have been avoiding this like the plague, but apparently he had other ideas. As the first faint strains of Orphee's song reached them, Aiacos saw the sphinx Specter tense, and send a hate-filled glare at the door. It was almost amusing. Aiacos toyed with the idea of leaving him alone, but he didn't have anything else to do at the moment. Besides, he wasn't about to let Pharaoh go after their last altercation.

"If you hate it that much you could just walk away you know," Aiacos drawled as he walked up to the other Specter. Pharaoh turned a surprised look on him. "It's not like anyone forces you to be here."

"Nor does anyone force you to be here, Lord Aiacos." Pharaoh snapped at him. "But yet here you are. Shouldn't you be inside if you wish to worship the Saint?"

"Worship him? Hardly. I simply enjoy his taste in music. Lord Hades does seem to think the same." Aiacos watched as Pharaoh seemed to wince at his words. "But as it stands I was late, and I was invited to the concert. What reason do you have for being here?"

Pharaoh looked away. "That is no concern of your, Lord Aiacos. I am free to go where I wish!"

"True, but I fail to see why you would want to stay near someone you clearly hate," Aiacos said lightly. "Unless you like being reminded that he's better than you could ever be. I never pegged you for a masochist."

"Shut up! That bastard of a Saint will never be better than I am!" Pharaoh straightened, his hands balling into fists. "Lord Hades is only enchanted with him because he's new, novel! Once that novelty wears off, our Lord will destroy as he should have when that _Saint _ dared show his face here, and I will regain my rightful place again!"

"What if that never happens?" Aiacos couldn't help saying as he crossed his arms. "Lord Hades wouldn't call for a concert this often if he didn't like it. He wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to keep the Saint here if he didn't intend to keep him around for a while. Face it Pharaoh, you have been well and truly replaced."

"I have not!" the reply was snarled. "Nor will I allow anyone to even suggest that I have been!" The look Aiacos found leveled at him was almost challenging.

"Are you trying to give me orders?" Aiacos replied, keeping his voice purposely soft, and dangerous. Pharaoh faulted here for a moment, seeming to realize exactly what he had said. But he didn't drop his gaze or back down.

"I am only giving a suggestion, Lord Aiacos." the other Specter did say.

"Then I shall _suggest _that you watch how you speak to me," Aiacos flaring a tiny scrap of cosmo to remind Pharaoh what he was. The Sphinx specter shrank back a little, but he didn't back down totally. Instead he just stared, until Aiacos started to wonder if he would actually have to do something about the Sphinx Saint right here.

But then Pharaoh looked away. "I will keep that in mind, _Lord_ Aiacos." he said stiffly, then walked off. The Judge watched him, frowning. He didn't like that way Pharaoh had been addressing him lately. He seemed far to challenging.

"You know…if you keep on doing things like that, you'll ruin your new found popularity," Aiacos heard a voice drawl as someone through a friendly arm over his shoulders. He recognized the voice at least, and he knew the touch was anything but friendly.

"I don't need your comments, Minos," he growled and pulled away. His fellow judge held up his hands, innocently.

"I was just giving you some advice," he said but he was smirking as he said it. "You wouldn't want everyone to start thinking you don't care now, would you?"

"As if I care what they think of me in the first place." Aiacos turned to walk away.

"That's not what the rumors are saying," Minos said in an almost gleeful tone. "They say that you're fair, trustworthy, and dependable. That you are perfectly willing to help if someone needs a problem taken care of discretely"

"I'm surprised you even pay attention to the rumors." Aiacos couldn't help growling.

"Now, now, rumors are important you know. They let the servants amuse themselves and you can earn all kinds of interesting things by listening in on them."

Although Minos was being flippant about the whole thing, Aiacos did have a sort of grudging respect for his fellow Judge. Information, either about weaknesses or even about what had happened, was very usefully down here. It would explain why Minos always seemed to know things he shouldn't and would always pop up in the last place you wanted him to be.

Of course, Aiacos had long suspected Minos of spreading rumors himself just to watch the reactions of others, so it shouldn't be that surprising. Speaking of that…

"I don't suppose you have an idea where the Specters got that idea I was willing to be nursemaid?" he glanced back at the other Judge, who tried to look innocent.

"No idea," Minos grinned. "I had nothing to do with it this time. It was all do to your recent act of charity."

"Something I do not intend to repeat." Aiacos started down the corridor, not in the mood to deal with Minos at the moment. But he had to admit that his fellow Judge had brought up some intriguing thoughts. Perhaps it would helpful him if he paid attention to the castle gossip. Not that he would actually want to stand around, listening to it all day, but perhaps he could get someone to do it for him. Irene certainly seemed to know what was going on. Maybe he would ask her about this the next time he saw her.

********************

Farther away from the throne room, Irene finished tidying up the last of the hallway as she went over that Lord Aiacos had asked of her. Being a spy was something she had never really thought about before, mostly because it made her uncomfortable. She knew there were other servants who did carry tales to Specters and people tended to voided them. You couldn't trust someone that like that, and she didn't want the others to think she was untrustworthy!

But Lord Aiacos hadn't asked her to spy on the other servants for him. She was just to watch out for Lord Orphee. Not that she really thought there was anything she could tell him. She hadn't ever even seen Lord Oprhee before! So why had he had he asked her of all people? It didn't make any sense…and she didn't even know if she should do this. Would spying on Lord Orphee make the others think she would spy on them too if asked? Would it really be worth it?

"Irene.." a voice called, interrupting her thoughts. Irene turned, curious as to who would be here at this time of day.

"Don't you have work you should be doing?" she snapped, recognizing the person who had hailed her. Helen, queen of the harem, was the only servant who had managed to get her uniform modified into a tight skirt that ended above her knees and a shirt that showed off most of her stomach. She was also infamous for not doing her work, then using her position among the Specters to get out of any punishment.

"Now, now," Helen said, flipping her blonde hair over a shoulder. "You don't have to get so nasty. I'm here on business you know, and if you don't be nice I won't give you the message I was sent with.

"Message?" Irene asked, slightly worried. Generally, messages were never a good thing in the middle of the workday.

"Lady Mita wants you, down by the rooms." Helena waved in the direction of the servants wing.

"What does she want?" Irene felt her hands tighten around her broom. Being called to speak with Lady Mita when you were suppose to be working was never a good thing.

"You think I know?" Helen shrugged. "It's not like I have all day to stand around talking with our dear leader. I do have other things to do, so if you'll excuse me…" Helen turned and started to walk away.

"Oh, you might want to hurry" she called over her shoulder. You know that Lady Mita hates to be kept waiting!"

Irene glared at her the other woman, then turned and hurried toward the servants quarters. Helen was right about Lady Mita not liking to be kept waiting, and Irene knew she couldn't afford to make her angry. She could only pray that she hadn't already displeased her. As Lady Mita had informed her, there were no more chances for her down here.


End file.
